Parish Council News

A seventh councillor is needed who is keen to really contribute to the

development of our village. A new, additional councillor will make an

enormous difference to those already giving up their time to serve our

village. John Brine has given notice (for the second time) of stepping down from the role as chair, although not as a councillor, owing to heavy work commitments. Cllr Tom Hughes has offered to take on the role as chair in November. If you are interested in becoming a councillor, contact either the clerk or a councillor. Please do give this some consideration.

Church Lane field

We do own it but it could take up to five months for Land Registry to register us as the new owners.

Water Containers

After many conversations with Severn Trent, JLR and the District Council, we think Tardis have stopped using the hydrants in the village. Severn Trent confirmed that they should not be using the hydrant at the Church Lane/Banbury Road junction and redirected them to hydrants near JLR. If you see them using hydrants in the village, please do contact the clerk with the date, time and registration number of the vehicle. Councillors will be requesting that any future JLR planning applications have a condition whereby they can not use the hydrants in this village for safety reasons.

Removal of 30mph countdown markers on the Banbury Road

The Parish Council fully supports the resident who is trying to get the

countdown markers reinstated on the Banbury Road. It has been reported by many residents that the speed of traffic entering Gaydon has increased. We are also concerned that County Highways might remove the Kineton Road markers next. No warning was given that the Banbury Road markers would be removed, they just disappeared. There is a petition in the shop requesting that they be reinstated and County Cllr Chris Williams has invited Bryn Patefield, Highways Officer, to our next meeting to explain the reasoning behind this removal.

All parishioners are invited to hear the explanations of why such decisions were made and voice any concerns that they have, at the beginning of our next meeting. It will be the first agenda item and residents will be free to leave the meeting after the discussion.

Cemetery

We would like to thank the resident who reported the dripping tap in the cemetery and the resident who kindly repaired it.

Banbury Road layby

We thank residents for pursuing this issue but still County Highways

refuse to allow the vegetation to be reduced. We believe that

reducing the vegetation would result in a reduction of anti-social

behaviour. It would also allow the District Council to litter pick the area. County Highways say that instead of reducing anti-social behaviour, it will increase it. They are also concerned about the

cost despite the fact that residents and the parish council will assist.

This could be a job for the Pay-Back Team who we understand do

not charge.

Facebook

Would residents please 'like' and 'share' matters of interest on facebook as this may generate more support for key issues.

Next meeting

Tuesday, 3rd October at 7.45pm.

St Giles' Harvest Festival Service

Sunday 1st October at 10.30am. Gifts of flowers, fruit and produce will be most welcome, particularly foodstuffs suitable for the Food Bank Box that is always kept in church.

Pathway Praise

On Sunday 1st October there will be Tea and Hospitality at Temple Herdwyke community centre. It starts at 4.15pm and includes refreshments and informal worship. All are welcome: children and their families; single people; couples; the young and the elderly.

For more details, see www.dassettmagna.org.uk

Tamar Valley Male Voice Choir come to Burton Dassett

Sunday 29 October at 12 noon

We are delighted to welcome the Tamar Valley Male Voice Choir to All Saints' Church, Burton Dassett. They will be entertaining us with a very special lunchtime concert in the church.

The concert will held on Sunday 29th October commencing at 12 mid-day. A light lunch of soup and cheese with crusty rolls, and followed by a dessert, will be served in the interval. The programme is designed to appeal to all ages and tastes, with the choir singing a selection of light and entertaining songs.

The choir was formed some ten years ago and has forty members, from both Devon and Cornwall, who bring 'the joy of song to audiences on both sides of the Tamar Valley whilst raising much needed funds for charitable causes'. They are now bringing the joy of song to All Saints!

Tickets are £10 each and are available from Sue Taylor (01295 770073) or Gill Roache (01295 680309). The concert is being held in aid of Dassett Magna Parish and Burton Dassett Fabric Fund.

Flu Clinics

Hastings House and Little Thatch Surgeries

For the first year ever we, as a practice, will be able to offer all our eligible patients a quadrivalent flu vaccine.

The vaccine is designed to protect against four different flu viruses: two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses.

Tuesday 24 October 9am-12.30pm and Thursday 26October 2-5.30pm available to all those 2 and 3 year-olds whose date of birth is on or after 01.09.2013 and on or before 31.08.2015.

The school immunisation service will offer a flu vaccine to all in reception class and in school years 1, 2, 3 and 4.

We are also able to offer our eligible patients a shingles or pneumonia vaccine at the same time. Further details from reception or the nurse.

Little Thatch: 01926 640491 Hastings House: 01789 840245

Christmas Lunch

I shall be contacting all the Christmas Cooks and Helpers quite soon to make plans for the lunch for the over-65s on 3rd December. If anyone new to the village would like an invitation to the lunch, please ring me on 640349 or call at the Old Bakehouse. Invitations are usually sent out in November. Julie Rickman

The Field

Gaydon Parish Council are extremely pleased to announce that "the field" has been secured for our community. We are now the proud owners of a new area designated for use by the residents of Gaydon. However, for the time being, we would ask users of this land to keep to the footpath. This is simply for the Health and Safety of our residents, as the boundaries of the field have not yet been inspected. A Facilities Survey was conducted to research residents' visions for this piece of land, the deadline for responses being August 20th 2017.

The results have been analysed and the three most popular uses are:

a play area for primary and nursery aged children;

a wildlife conservation area;

and an open space for events.

More details are available on the website www.gaydonpc.com

Thank you very much to everyone who completed the survey: a constructive exercise with excellent recommendations. Debi Morisot, Councillor

Hey!

Help yourselves to hay! There is a heap of hay in the churchyard, too big to fit in the green bins. You are invited to take away as much as you like: excellent bedding for small creatures such as rabbits and guinea pigs; and good for chickens, too. JR

Mobile Library

The Library will visit the Telephone Box at Gaydon from 1.35-2.05pm on Mondays 9th and 30th this month.

Coffee Morning

This month's Coffee Morning will be at 11am on Saturday 14th. Books, bring-and-buy and raffle. Proceeds for St Giles' Church.

Village Hall News

The Village Hall Cottage has been redecorated and underfloor heating has been installed in the living room. The gardeners on the committee have refreshed the little bed by the front doors with plants that they hope will withstand the dry conditions of the south-facing garden.

Friendship Club

This month, Mrs Mary Fox has invited us to her cottage in Church Lane. The meeting will take place on Tuesday 17th from 2.30-4pm.

St Giles' Harvest Festival Service

Sunday 1st October at 10.30am. Gifts of flowers, fruit and produce will be most welcome, particularly foodstuffs suitable for the Food Bank Box that is always kept in church.

Fenny Compton Tots and Toddlers

Wednesdays in Term Time 9.45-11.45am at Fenny Compton Village Hall, Memorial Road, CV47 2XU

A friendly welcome for everyone with children from birth to school age. Plenty of toys, crafts, songs and activities. Refreshments provided. £2 per family and first week free. Find us on facebook or come along and meet us!

British Motor Museum, Gaydon, Warwickshire

October Half-Term Family Activities 21-28 October. Get creative! Come and draw, paint, stick and colour with our

art-based workshops running Monday to Friday. Part of the 'Fantastic for Families' national art campaign, this October half-term activity is sure to entertain the whole family.

There are also two great family trails to enjoy everyday:

our new interactive 'Missing Plans' family trail, and, as it wouldn't be October half-term without something Hallowe'en, our 'Black Cat' trail is back. For more information visit www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk.

Pathway Praise at Temple Herdewyke

Starting on 1st October: 1st Sunday of each month at 4.15pm Tea and Hospitality at the Community Centre, Temple Herdewyke, followed by a short, informal service of worship. All are welcome: children and their families; single people; couples; the young and the elderly. The church is one family!

For more details, see www.dassettmagna.org.uk or contact the Reverend Nicki Chatterton 07769 871237 or chat2rev.nicki@gmail.com

Gaydon Inn

Our cover this month shows the Inn as it used to be before it disappeared under the disguise of a block of flats. We hope that it will now be restored to an attractive listed building.

Where are the fêtes of old?

Our September magazine showed the last village fête to be held on the Gaydon Inn Field. Now that Gaydon has its own field in Church Lane, all we need is someone to run our next fête in 2018. Any volunteers? Contact the Editor

Flag

The flag on the village green was raised on 15 September to mark the Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, fought in 1940.

Nature Notes for September

Autumn is not really underway as yet in late September this year in Gaydon, though we have had the predictable mists in the early mornings, some very heavy rain and a drop in temperature.

The trees are still green and the intervals of sunshine are

pleasantly warm.

The arrival of many Garden spiders and their attractive webs which cross almost every doorway and stem of vegetation - an impressive sight when festooned with droplets of dew in the early mornings. Crane Flies - the familiar 'Daddy-long-legs' - are also emerging. There is an abundance of Blackberries in the hedgerows, large and ripe, and much liked by the Red Admiral and Painted Lady butterflies now that they are excreting sugar-rich juices.

A walk around Ichington Holt reveals the sunny patches of woodland, a haven for many species of darter Dragonflies, whilst the larger Hawkers patrol the hedgerows; both of these will continue to live until the first frosts. The crickets and grass hoppers also seek warmth in the daytime, often swarming around rays of sunshine that cut through the tree cover.

Some years ago, a male Sparrow hawk graced the cover of the Parish Magazine, plucking a pigeon in front of the Old Bakehouse. A few days ago another of these birds returned, this time perching on the thatched porch. It was a very large female bird this time, almost twice the size of the more colourful male bird.

We have a good population of collared doves and Woodpigeons in the village and the neat piles of feathers around our gardens indicate that many are falling prey to these birds. Sparrows are no longer as numerous now, so they would be better named a Pigeon Hawk

these days.

It is also good to see a large family of Green Woodpeckers on the graveyard questing after ants on the paths. Their colours are as exotic as a tropical bird and their familiar 'yaffling' is often heard in contrast to the discordant shriek of the related Great-Spotted Woodpecker - one of which is feeding on my Hazelnut tree at present and resents my disturbing it when I tend my hens nearby. Goldcrests are 'tittering' in the Leylandii, the only species that loves these trees.

If you are leaving the village by car in the direction of the M40 look out for the large herd of Roe Deer grazing on the stubble and the Buzzards using the Lamp posts as vantage posts; a Kestrel is a regular around the banks, too.

The subsoil thrown up by the roadworks is ideal for colonising wildflowers. I noticed some Ox-eye daisies and Blue Scabious in flower there (I am the passenger, note)...

Now is the time to expect some hibernating butterflies to enter your house, so have a jar and piece of card ready to evict them: when your heating is turned on they will revive thinking it's spring. There are very few wasps this year, so almost all my figs have been untouched. I am a bit concerned, though, that insects are getting progressively fewer each year. I mentioned windscreens and radiators previously. Wasps do a great deal of good - although if stung you may not think so favourably! Looking at the array of killer aerosols in garden centres, I wonder if overkill might not be such a good thing. On the positive side, we have a wonderful colony of solitary bees established in the old blue rubble wall of the shop; and Bumble bees are holding their own as the most common pollinator in our gardens.

The smell of newly cut hay which has been hand-scythed in the traditional way around our Church and the aroma of fallen apples and plums, are an enduring pleasure this month. Bernard Price